SW News: The Peruvian Congress has urged that elections be moved from October of 2026 to this coming October. In an effort to put an end to weeks of protests that have claimed dozens of lives, Peru's Congress on Monday considered a plan to move elections up, but after hours of deliberation, the vote was postponed. The proposal calling for a new president and a new congress to take office on January 1 of the next year was rejected by Peruvian legislators. The elections were then proposed to be moved up to this October as a compromise. It received only a muted response.  However, the current president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, told them that if they didn't accept this, she would push for a complete rewrite of the Constitution and is already facing great pressure to quit. Therefore, the amendment has been approved by Congress with a bare minimum of 66 votes. The two-thirds majority required for ultimate approval is still far away.
Following then-President Pedro Castillo's unsuccessful attempt to dissolve Congress on December 7th, he was taken into custody after the impeachment vote and is now being held on rebellion-related charges. Vice President Dina Boluarte was swiftly elected to become president. However, tens of thousands of protesters want her to step down and new elections held immediately. This most recent attempt at a compromise is unlikely to be sufficient to quell the turmoil, which has spread to Lima, the country's capital, where violence over the weekend claimed the life of one demonstrator.
According to the Peruvian Ombudsman's Office, 48 individuals have died in skirmishes between security personnel and protestors over the course of seven weeks of demonstrations, including one police officer. The majority of the disturbance is being caused by impoverished, rural Indigenous people from southern Peru who saw Castillo as one of their own who would battle to remove racism, inequality, and poverty.
Meanwhile, the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need is organizing prayer for peace and unity in crisis-hit Peru, from February 2 to March 9.